Psalms 58

1 For the chief musician; set to Al Tashheth. A psalm of David. A michtam. Do you rulers speak righteousness? Do you judge uprightly, you people?

Do you indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do you judge uprightly, O you sons of men?

2 No, you commit wickedness in your heart; you distribute violence throughout the land with your hands.

Yes, in heart you work wickedness; you weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.

3 The wicked go astray even when they are in the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.

4 Their poison is like a snake's poison; they are like a deaf adder that stops up its ears,

Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stops her ear;

5 that pays no attention to the voice of charmers, no matter how skillful they are.

Which will not listen to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.

6 Break their teeth in their mouths, God; break out the great teeth of the young lions, Yahweh.

Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.

7 Let them melt away as water that runs off; when they shoot their arrows, let them be as though they had no points.

Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bends his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.

8 Let them be like a snail that melts and passes away, like the untimely-born child of a woman that never sees the sunlight.

As a snail which melts, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.

9 Before your pots can feel the thorn's burning heat, he will take them away with a whirlwind, the green thorns and the burning thorns alike.

Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.

10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees God's vengeance; he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,

The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

11 so that men will say, “Truly, there is a reward for the righteous person; truly there is a God who judges the earth.”

So that a man shall say, Truly there is a reward for the righteous: truly he is a God that judges in the earth.